


midsummer girls

by otshineon (alexscarlet)



Series: girls girls girls [2]
Category: SHINee
Genre: Anxiety, Domestic, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Eskimo Kisses, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gardens & Gardening, Girls Kissing, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Kissing, Lesbian Character, Platonic Kissing, Platonic Life Partners, Queer Character, Queerplatonic Relationships, References to Depression, Summer, i was listening to girls like girls and photosynthesising under the sun, my precious queer bubs ;;;
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 03:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7151348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexscarlet/pseuds/otshineon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the way they hold each other breaks Gwiboon’s heart, but today, under the sun of the new summer, all she feels is hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	midsummer girls

Gwiboon awakes to sunlight spilling peachy-hued through her curtains. A deep calm settles in her bones. After the frantic unrest of the day before - an unexplainable thing, itching beneath her veins - it feels like she can breathe again. Feels like coming home.

 

Then Taeyeon pokes her head around the door and smiles indulgingly as Gwiboon whines about getting up and kisses her cheek and pulls Gwiboon downstairs for cold milk and buttery croissants and Gwiboon knows it’s going to be a good day.

 

Taeyeon dresses them in matching check shirts and jeans, and Gwiboon doesn’t know where they’re going when Taeyeon pushes them out of the door, books and reading material hastily - reluctantly - stuffed in yellow rucksacks alongside nicer things, but that doesn’t matter, because she’d follow Taeyeon anywhere.

 

She’d forgotten that Taeyeon’s grandma has a house just outside the city, but Taeyeon tells her about it on the bus there; and her grandma’s on holiday but she knows where the spare key is and the view is so beautiful in summer, Gwiboon, you have to see it. And summer, summer, it’s here finally. Finally. Gwiboon opens the bus window and sticks her head out and the last breeze of spring curls her hair into a golden frenzy and Taeyeon whispers

 

“I love you.”

 

against the shell of her ear and presses her soft pink lips to the side of Gwiboon’s neck.

 

And Gwiboon tangles their fingers together and squeezes tight and loves her, loves her too.

 

Taeyeon giggles and Gwiboon doesn’t know why she’s giggling quite so much but she supposes there is something a little exciting about sneaking into somebody’s house - even one they have the spare key to, even when Taeyeon said she’d phoned her grandparents in France to ask before Gwiboon woke up - so Gwiboon laughs too.

 

They don’t get time together like this often. She lets herself fall into the easy swing of time, time spent by Taeyeon’s side, and every now and then the dust motes swoop through the sunlight in the old house or Taeyeon’s little ponytail swings, and Gwiboon captures that split second. Tucks it into the pocket above her heart for safekeeping.

 

In the middle of the flagstone kitchen they kick their jeans off in favour of shorts and Taeyeon pulls Gwiboon into a hug as they’re sneaking chocolate biscuits from the tin and Gwiboon laughs through a mouthful and Taeyeon just grins. Gwiboon thinks she understands, as the air parts around them soft with nostalgia, and fading childhood memories, and the sharp brilliance of new ones. I’m alive, Gwiboon thinks, I’m alive, I’m alive. Taeyeon says something punny and Gwiboon hits her shoulder and their laughs break the quiet as they spill out onto the back porch.

 

Gwiboon burns in the heat of Taeyeon’s company and the afternoon sun and after winter, oh, oh how she revels in it. Gwiboon eases into the new season, feels her heart lift. From frustrated, messy days of sun and self-hatred in spring, when only Taeyeon’s steady hands and constant kisses could keep her from falling apart, she knows that she can’t hang all her mood on Taeyeon or sunshine. But how her ribcage aches with the heavy contentment that settles, here with both, tucked up on the wooden bench out in the garden with Taeyeon sprawled across the grass amongst a sea of paper, shooting smiles up at her, squinting against the resurrected sun.

 

At its zenith they strip off their shirts and lounge in their bras and denim shorts. Everywhere skin touches skin sweat glistens, sugar sweet on bronzing limbs, and Gwiboon gulps down water, cool from the shade beneath the bench, and loves every minute of it. They take breaks from work to water the flowerbeds and dance barefoot in the grass and Gwiboon paints Taeyeon’s nails because Taeyeon is terrible at it and Gwiboon wishes she could live like this forever.

 

As the sun sinks into the trees they chase the light around the garden, tumbling out of the shadows until they’re bathed in gold, the grass growing up around them, soft beneath them. Green stains their knees and elbows; clouds drift across the skies. Gwiboon lies with her head on Taeyeon’s thigh and stares up into the bright blue. Drops of sun splash off the wings of swallows flitting through the warm air. A plane leaves white in its wake and when Gwiboon rolls over and digs her chin into Taeyeon’s tummy, sun catches in the spiders’ webs. In the slow, soft settling of dusk they’ve shrugged their shirts back on but haven’t bothered buttoning them up, and Taeyeon has little downy hairs all over her tummy that Gwiboon nuzzles with her nose because they’re so cute. She’s so cute. Giggling at how it tickles, Taeyeon dives at her, sending them laughing down the slope of the garden, crushing buttercups.

 

I love you, Gwiboon presses into the little marks left by the grass across Taeyeon’s calves. Taeyeon catches her hand and pulls her closer and Gwiboon goes willingly. Will always go willingly. I love you, Taeyeon replies, in the soft brush of lips across Gwiboon’s forehead, in her hands that tangle in Gwiboon’s messy hair, in the way she heaves them over so she can squash Gwiboon beneath her until there’s no space between them, Gwiboon’s arms tight around her waist, clinging on, and Taeyeon’s head in the crook of Gwiboon’s neck. Sometimes the way they hold each other breaks Gwiboon’s heart, the way Taeyeon cradles her, but today all she feels is hope.

 

Later, they’ll trip their ways into the house and smash quick sandwiches together and feed each other. Later, they’ll gather all their things and Gwiboon will lace up Taeyeon’s boots as she whines about some revolution or other, and somehow Taeyeon deftly buttons up her own shirt on Gwiboon, and Gwiboon’s on Taeyeon. Later, they’ll stumble through the night, hands stuck together, hearts beating loud and wild in their chests, off the bus and home, tumble into bed and sigh in synchronisation.

 

For now, Gwiboon breathes in the sweaty vanilla of Taeyeon’s hair and blinks up into the blue. 


End file.
